Hopeful Encounter
by tea-induced scribbles
Summary: Set after S5; the war is over, Danny seeks out Kara on the USS Michener to check in and talk about him coming home. M-rating for implied sexy times. Complete.


A/N: This is an a short AU fic set after S5- Burk lived and Danny didn't shoot the kid.

* * *

"Come in." Kara called, she didn't even turn to the door as she was neck deep in paperwork. The war was over but the paperwork had just begun.

After the losses of the past few days, she just wanted to hide in her paperwork than think about it. She blinked back the tears as she thought of the friends she had lost, the sinking of the Nathan James and the defeated energy that was on the ship. They had won the war, people were celebrating stateside but on the USS Michener there was no party happening. Sailors and Marines alike were exhausted, defeated and broken. They would plaster on a smile and cheer when they reunited with their families but for now, they processed the hell they had survived and grieved the friends they had lost who were currently in the morgue.

Kara's thoughts drifted to the sailors lost under command. The sailors who were no longer whole like Carlton. He had seemed invincible and like many of the men and women on board; he'd been talking about the success of the mission and what he'd do when he got home.

Now, he was laying in USS Michener's infirmary with their wounded. He'd barely survived the harpoon to the chest but it had damaged his spine. He had no feeling below the waist. He was alive but his spirit was broken, Kara didn't even know what to say to him. She knew he could adapt but there were no words that could salve how hard the next few months would be.

The hatch opened and closed, she turned to see who it was and stopped mid-sentence in her typing as Danny stood before her. The air was thick with what had been unspoken for the last three years between them. The arguments they never had, the conversations they should've before they went from being happily married to near strangers who shared a child. The confusing part was that even though she sometimes felt like she didn't know or understand him, she still loved him.

"Captain." He said with a wan smile.

"Lieutenant." She replied, neither could muster a smile at the fond memory of their earlier days of sly smiles and innuendo. She missed those days. "Let me just finish this sentence and I'll be with you." She said.

"Sure." He replied, he moved to the couch and sat down. Kara turned back to her computer typing out the last few sentences of the report. She saved it and closed the computer. She moved from her desk to sit at the chair opposite the couch.

"Have you finished up your paperwork?" she asked, she knew what she wanted to ask but chickened out at the last moment. She knew it would make or break what was left of their marriage.

"Halfway through, I just couldn't keep focus and I wanted to see you; to see how you were doing." He said, he looked at her with a mixed look of desperation and want. The same look he'd given her last week when he said he wanted to come home.

"I'm-" she started to say 'fine' but it was a lie and an automatic response. Instead she went with the truth."I don't know, I want to cry but I'm - I was the Captain of the Nathan James. So, I'm supposed to be rock solid. You know?" she asked, she wasn't trying to rub her rank or position in his face.

She just needed him to understand the pressure she felt herself under. She had lost her first ship and it had been the Nathan James to boot. The ship they had met on, fell in love on, conceived their child on and saved the world with twice over. It had sunk on her watch, now her crew were sharing the USS Michener until they got home but they were guests. Kara now knew what Meylan had gone through when the Hayward sank and his crew had been displaced.

"Yeah, I do." He said softly, of course he knew. He had been team leader of his team before joining Sasha's crew. They lapsed into silence as they looked at one another both waiting for the other to speak first. Kara summoned the courage to ask the question that gnawed at her.

"Do you still mean what you said a few days ago?" she asked, her heart pounded in her throat as she waited for the worst outcome. She saw the inner turmoil in his eyes and the quiet edge to his demeanour that he'd used to keep a wall between them.

"More than ever before. I want out for good." He said firmly. Kara felt a wave of relief wash through her. She knew it was selfish but at the same time didn't care as he was keeping his word.

"What happened?" she asked softly, she couldn't help but notice how firm he was in his decision. Danny sat back and scrubbed his hands down his face. He looked at her, his face riddled with pain and guilt.

"I nearly shot a kid, he was Frankie's age. He was scared shitless, Kara." He said, it pulled at Kara's heart strings as she could only imagine the hell of that near miss. "I just- it was messed up and I never want to be in that position again. I also don't want to end up broken like Chandler with Frankie hating me." He told her.

"Ok." She said, a little dumbly as she didn't know what to say. She couldn't say she didn't notice the warning signs in Danny that they had all witnessed in Tom Chandler. Kara had witnessed Tom's mental state first hand the past few months and how his family had fallen apart because of it. He was America's hero but he was also a very broken and haunted man. It had not gone unnoticed but it had been ignored for the sake of morale.

"I want to come home." He said softly, he moved from the couch and sat on the coffee table in front of her. He took her hands into his. "I love you and Frankie, I will do whatever it takes to come home." He told her.

"Danny." She said softly, he said everything she wanted to hear. For once, she just wanted life to be simple. She pulled her hands from his and cupped his face; she pulled him to and kissed him. She had wanted to do this for so long.

The kiss started soft but soon turned hot, greedy as they made up for lost time. Kara tightened her hold on Danny, afraid to let him go. Because right now, he was a vivid dream. She felt the hard warmth of the muscles beneath her hands, his clean, crisp scent as it wrapped around her, the feel of his callused palm against her cheek and the soft prickle of his beard against her skin. And his lips, they were just as strong, firm and perfect as she remembered them.

Danny lifted her up, she wrapped her arms around his hips as he carried them to the small bedroom. He dropped her down, they kicked off their boots and pulled off their clothes without a care or second thought of if it was wrong or right. They desperately needed one another, loved one another.

* * *

15 minutes later,

"I've missed you." Danny murmured, he held Kara in his arms, their bodies slick with sweat and cooling down in the afterglow of their quickie. He had missed her, he had missed everything about her, even the things that annoyed him like her work hairstyle that was near impossible to undo without stopping for a full ten minutes to figure out how she did it. He knew how but in the heat of the moment it might as well be the Da Vinci code. Impossible.

"I've missed you too." Kara said, she pressed a kiss to his chest and luxuriated in the moment and her lax muscles as it was the first time in months she felt fully relaxed. It felt good. But it didn't last long as a sharp knock sounded at the door. "Oh shit." She cursed, she pushed off of him like a teenager being caught by her parents.

"Should I go hide in the head?" Danny asked in half amusement but also being serious. Sure, they were married and technically not in the same chain of command but optics was still everything. Kara was a Captain and he was a Lieutenant.

"Yes." Kara said as she pulled her gym gear from her bag and tossed them on. She smoothed the fly-aways. "Why aren't you moving?" she hissed at him. The knock sounded again. "One minute!" she shouted.

"You're not kidding." Danny said, he copped a t-shirt to the face. He was pretty sure wasn't his.

"I'm a Captain now. I can't be canoodling in my quarters." She reminded him, he didn't need her to say anything more as he hoped out of the bed and helped her make it before he collected his clothes.

"I'm going. I love you." He told her with a grin.

"I love you too, but move faster." She begged him, they shared a quick kiss before she practically shoved him into the bathroom and closed the door. She blew out a calming breath and rushed to the door. She opened it and was somewhat relieved it was Sasha and not an Admiral.

"Sasha, how can I help you?" Kara asked as calmly as she could.

"You look a little flustered, is everything ok?" Sasha asked, her annoyingly keen senses were picking up on something that Kara didn't want her to know.

"I was working out." Kara told her, a little flustered as lying never came naturally to her. Sasha didn't believe her as she wore an amused smile.

"Uhuh, I came by to drop these off to you." She said, not questioning Kara's word as she handed her a stack of files.

"Thank you." Kara replied as she took the files.

"You're welcome, I'll leave you to your Pilates." Sasha said, her voice laden with sexual innuendo as she wore a sly smile. Her eyes darted over to the floor behind Kara. Kara turned to see the discarded boot. Both women knew the boot was too big to Kara's.

"Thank you." Kara said, she knew Sasha was probably going to bring it up on the next Girl's Poker Night. But it would be worth it, the women exchanged looks and Sasha walked away with a chuckle. Kara closed the door, "it's all clear and you forgot a boot." She told Danny, he appeared from behind the wall; fully dressed bar his boots.

"Sorry, my sneaking around skills are very rusty." He said sheepishly, he sat down pulled on his boots and tied the laces.

"We'll be home in 5 days, so we'll pick this up then." She assured him, she didn't want to flout the rules or snub her nose at the Captain of USS Jeffery Michener. He rose from the chair and closed the distance between them.

"I know what happened five minutes ago doesn't mean everything is magically fixed between us. I know I gotta work at making things right and I will. I promise you." He said sincerely. Kara reached up and fixed the collar of his shirt.

"I believe you." She said, her hands slid down and rested on his chest.

"I'm going to go now." He said.

"Should I be saluting you or kissing you now?" he asked her in a flirty manner.

"Either works." She told him, Danny cupped her face. He leaned down and kissed her slow and drugging. She melted into it with a moan of pleasure as it made her tempted to take him back to bed but he pulled away from the kiss first.

"5 more days. I'll see you around Captain." He told her, Kara nodded as they needed to be professionals. He stepped away and felt the loss of his touch. He smiled before he left her quarters.

Kara blew out breath her heart pounding with a mix of anxiety and new hope. They still had a lot to work through as a couple and as individuals but she had real hope for her family and their future. It felt amazing, but right now; she had to get through her paperwork.


End file.
